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Infernal Affairs
Infernal Affairs is the twelfth quest zone, part one of Rule in Hell (Story Volume), and is unlocked by defeating Markgraf Otto von Malhaven in Dark Dynasty on Normal difficulty. Defeat Lord Occulus on Normal difficulty to unlock Man and Fiend. "Oh, hell..." Enemies Encounters *1. Welcome to Hell - *2. Feast of Eyes - *3. Evil Eyes - *4. The Hills Have Eyes - *5. Tired Eyes - *6. Angry Eyes - *7. Damn You, Damn Me - *8. Internal Duologue - *9. Come Hither Eye - *10. Return of the Prince - Walkthrough Normal Encounters Boss Encounters Optional Boss Encounters Final Boss # Fight through Node 1, unlocking Niknak. # Fight through Nodes 2, 5, 6, 7 and 9. # Fight through Node 10, unlocking Eyeball Demon Lord. (Old map) Notable Loot Crafting *Common Craft: Pinched Penny (Mercy for Misers) *Boss Craft: Saved Soul (Absolution) Boss Card Reward *Niknak's Victory Dance (Lord Occulus) ** Niknak's Victory Dance (83) from Normal ** Niknak's Victory Dance (84) from Hard ** Niknak's Victory Dance (85) from Nightmare Transcript Thadwin examined the woodcut illustration in the grimoire. He turned his head and scrutinized the chalked circles and pentagrams on the stone floor. Then he consulted the book again. He frowned. The apprentice heaved the tome off the oak table and grunted. A lot of his mistress' most prized volumes were weighty works -- and not simply in terms of their content. They felt more like warriors' shields than repositories of arcane knowledge. Thadwin didn't understand why long-dead sorcerers had preferred to ink their thoughts and findings in such absurdly large books, unless they'd been in the habit of bludgeoning one another to death with them. His scrawny arms groaned beneath their burden, but he managed to hold it open in the air, its lower edge braced against his chest, and placed the picture beside the chalk drawings. Thadwin glanced from one to the other. They looked... similar. Granted, the one in the book was rather more ascetically pleasing. The lines of its pentagrams were as straight as spear shafts. Its circles were so flawless that a mathematician would have wept at their geometrical brilliance, had he or she been prone to unseemly outbursts of emotion. And the characters which adorned the spaces within those lines and curves were beautiful in their calligraphy. By contrast, Thadwin's efforts left something to be desired. His chalked pentagram's lines wavered somewhat. And his circle was more of a battered ellipse. As for his symbols... Well, a linguist might have suggested that they were more cacographic than calligraphic. But the apprentice didn't think he could really be blamed for this. After all, floors and chalk were rather less manageable than small woodcuts. All the details appeared to be there, at least. Yes... It should work. And Thadwin didn't have time to procrastinate. He had to finish the ritual and conceal the evidence before his mistress returned. The apprentice began to lower the book back onto the table. At that point his protesting muscles finally succumbed to fatigue, however. The grimoire slipped from his grasp and struck the oak with a thud that brought to mind engines of war battering a besieged castle. Some of its pages flopped over like rows of dying soldiers. He winced, and riffled back to his place -- where the woodcut dominated one page, and lines of purple-inked text the other. Thadwin picked up a small dagger, stepped over to the edge of the circle, and hesitated. He didn't necessarily mind blood. He'd used it in rituals before. And he rather liked black puddings. But pain... Well, that was different. It had to be done, however. So after a few seconds in which the dagger's point hovered and wavered over his fingertip, it pricked flesh. He gave a slight squeal, more out of instinct than anything else. His face reddened. The apprentice was glad he was the only one in the tower. Suitably chastened by embarrassment, he allowed a crimson droplet to fall within the circle and splat on the stone in a tiny red burst. Thadwin sucked his finger, put the dagger back, and looked at the purple text. He removed the wounded digit and coughed. Then he began to chant. "Chral deral marala nush, Ruld serl matharna zush, Yunna walx shubun kush." A pinprick of bright red light opened in the air above the middle of the pentagram. It blinked like an eye, before expanding in a blazing, hissing rush -- until the apprentice was gazing into a scarlet maelstrom, its depths filled with seething, crackling masses of energy. It was in the shape of an arched doorway. Thadwin gasped. He'd done it! The portal was open! Ha! He was so captivated by the spectacle and his sense of self-satisfaction that it was several seconds before he remembered to speak the name. "Kyragua!" A patch of amorphous blackness appeared in the middle of the red tempest. It grew nearer and larger, shifting and sharpening until it resolved itself into a voluptuous silhouette. When it stood before Thadwin, at the very forefront of the portal, his own height or perhaps taller, the shadows parted like a torn veil -- revealing smooth, tanned flesh, streaming ebon hair, and a gorgeous face. The woman was clad in the remains of a dress, pieces of torn fabric that somehow contrived to make her seem more naked than their absence would have. Her eyes bore a frightened, haunted look that lent her beauty a mournful aspect. "Help me!" she said. Her voice was a silken plea, frightened and alluring in equal measure. She reached out to him with beseeching hands. "Please! I-" "I know you're a succubus," Thadwin said. "That's why I summoned you." "Oh..." The woman clicked her fingers. Her body rippled like a pool of water. When it became still, her flesh was bright blue. Her face, though still gorgeous, bore a cold, cruel smirk. A pair of horns curled upwards on either side of her brow, and the spearhead-shaped end of a slender tail flicked around her feet. "Well, here I am," Kyragua said. Her voice made phantom fingers tickle their way along his body. "What do you desire, mortal? Mmm... Perhaps you're one of the ones who wants their soul sucked out through their-" "No!" he spluttered. "I mean... no. I... I don't." "Oh. A pity... So, what will it be? A night of passion? Just remember -- the payment's mine, even if you only last for-" "I'm in love!" The succubus raised her eyebrow. "With me?" "What? No! Of course not!" Kyragua glared. "I... I mean... You're... I'm sure you're very nice..." She rolled her eyes. "Well, what do you want then?" "I'm in love..." "I'm happy for you. But you summoned me away from a celebration at Baroness Valgatha's palace. There are two handsome fiends I have to get back to. One of them has such wonderful tentacles... So get to the point." "I love her, but she doesn't love me!" "If you want her seduced and destroyed, summon an incubus. I don't do women. Not unless she's an elf... Is she an elf?" "No. But-" "Then goodbye." Kyragua turned around. Her tailed flicked behind her. "Wait! I want you to pretend to be my lover!" "Huh?" She looked over her shoulder. "If she sees me with a beautiful woman, she'll be jealous and she'll want me!" "Hmm... Perhaps." The succubus turned back to the apprentice. "What are you offering?" "My mistress has magic tomes. And artifacts. I could give you some." "Very well. If... Hey!" Big, red hands grasped her arms and shoulders. "Out of the way!" said a sharp, high-pitched voice. "Get your hands off-" A powerful wrench flung Kyragua back into the maelstrom's depths. "...me!" A small green imp appeared at the forefront of the portal. Two hulking red fiends loomed up behind him, their brawny bodies so wide that only half of each torso was visible through the infernal archway. Thadwin gawped like a fish. The imp grinned, as he stepped into the chamber. "You can't do that!" wailed the apprentice. "I didn't summon you!" "You open a portal, you get demons. Demons like Niknak." The imp jabbed a finger at his own chest. Niknak scurried towards Thadwin. The larger, more terrible fiends began to shove their way through the dimensional doorway behind him -- struggling shoulder to shoulder as they vied for entrance. The apprentice backpedaled and squealed. "You can't do that! There's a magic circle! A magic circle!" Niknak pointed at the floor. "Missed a spot," he said. Thadwin gazed at the tiny, almost imperceptible break in a chalked pentagram line, and groaned. "I... I'll banish you! Be gone, fiends! Be gone, in the name of-" "Silence, human!" The green imp kicked him in the groin. The apprentice fell to his knees and clutched his crotch as though trying to hold it together. One of the big, red demons stomped over. "This the human we want?" he asked. "No," Niknak replied. "We kill him then?" Thadwin moaned. Niknak furrowed his brow in contemplation. "No! This human has been useful. We will let him live." The hulking demon grunted. "Maybe kill him a little?" "No!" More fiends emerged from the portal. The apprentice was torn between gazing openmouthed at the infernal assembly and focusing on his wounded nether regions. "Where are we?" the imp asked. He grabbed the underside of Thadwin's jaw. "Answer!" "This is the tower of Thydriss the Enchantress! She... She'll be back soon! Oh, gods... She's going to kill me!" The imp raised his head and sniffed the air. "Ah! The one we want is close! Come!" He scurried through the chamber's more mundane doorway, into the hallway beyond. A procession of fiends lumbered after him. Some of them glared at Thadwin as they went, and each infernal gaze made him tremble. But when the last of them passed him by, he remained unslain. A door slammed below. The apprentice darted over to the window. The green imp and his demonic cohorts were running across the grass, towards the distant woods. Thadwin gulped. He really hoped his mistress wouldn't find out about this... *** Starlight falls in gentle waves, stroking the trees and lending its soft illumination to the road ahead. It's a peaceful, tranquil landscape which surrounds you -- a welcome respite from some of your recent ordeals. "It's bloody dark," Hugh says. "How about we make camp and have some dinner?" You sigh. "Just a little further," you say, "and we'll reach..." A hulking shape leaps out from the trees. It stands in the middle of the road, and glares at you through blazing red eyes. You draw your weapon. Your companions do likewise. "I am a mighty and fearsome demon," the creature says. "I am here to distract... uh, destroy... I am here to destroy you!" You look at Tessa. She shrugs. "Prepare to be destroyed!" the demon advises. You charge at the creature. It turns and runs. "I am escaping!" the demon yells. "Maybe I will find human children and eat them!" The demon seems touched in the head, but you can't leave him wandering the countryside -- especially not if he's going to eat children. So you break into a run. Your companions follow suit. "This is the one! Grab him!" "Oi! Get your sodding mitts off me!" The shouts come from behind. You look over shoulder. Then you stop in your tracks and whirl round. A small green form is clinging onto the front of Hugh's jerkin. Two larger, more terrible creatures have hold of his arms. "Wretched imp!" Brachus roars. Tongues of arcane fire blossom into being along his limbs. "You dare lay hands on Prince-" The imp pulls his green head back, and smashes it into Hugh's face. "Ow!" Hugh and Brachus chorus. There's an explosion of scarlet light. It douses the road with its soft, pulsing redness. A throbbing archway looms behind the spinning, struggling pack. You run towards them. Rakshara sprints, her long legs outdistancing you, an oroc war cry streaming from her lips. But it's too late... "Oh, bugger!" The grappling fiends tumble through the portal, with Hugh still in their midst. Then it begins to contract. Its arch and sides collapse inwards and downwards, crumpling out of existence. Rakshara screams. She dives, hurls her powerful orange body towards the closing doorway. The oroc rises in a crouch at its threshold, her shield and sword arm above her, her entire body trembling beneath the weight of the eldritch maw as it tries to seal itself. Her roar is like the shattering of crystal mountains. She struggles to her feet, thrusting the portal's collapsing periphery away, widening the mouth, driving the very fabric of reality back before her furious strength. You're beside her in the next instant, shoving your shield against its side. It's like trying to hold back an avalanche. Some of the others appear around you, throwing their thews and weight against it. "We have to go through!" Rakshara shouts. "That's an infernal portal!" Tessa says. "It leads to hell!" "They have Hugh!" The oroc gazes around her with wild, desperate eyes. "Get back then!" The portal shudders as the oroc starts to move. It buffets you with renewed force. The moment she goes through, it'll close... You look to Tessa. But for once she has no answer for you. There isn't time to think... "I'll go!" you say. "The rest of you stay here!" You fling yourself into the scarlet maelstrom. Category:Infernal Affairs Category:Zones